I don’t know much about crane flies or flies in general, but why do crane flies have such long legs? They seem like such a hindrance, and I doubt they’re much help when trying to land on walls or walking. They seem much too thin to draw the attention of predators away from the main body, and it seem…

I understand all answers in line with “no aim in evolution”, but it relly doesn’t help and ordinary (or any) person just knowing things are because they are, we can answer everything with one easy answer.

I have not been able to find any research papers on the topic (tipulid ecology is very very understudied, so I bet no one knows) but I strongly suspect their legs are antenniform and serve some chemosensory function (in slow motion videos I have captured they constantly palpate objects with their le…

I think it does help or I wouldn’t answer this way. Often, I get a strange look or a followup question to my snark. That’s when I can explore how various parts are used by the organism. And how that may or may not be a factor affecting reproductive success. I try to be very careful when explainin…

Sure we have to say that why is not the best way to phrase questions we have, but it’s still a too easy way to just say they’re long because specimens like that survived, it’s kind of a base of this question and doesn’t really answers e.g. what OP wanted to know and again, it can be an answer to any…

Not to get dragged into a big messy debate or anything, but I have to say I agree with melodi_96. It is indeed often difficult to test the evolutionary benefits of a given morphological feature, but saying that long legs exist due to their ancestors having long legs or due to it not being detrimenta…

I don’t really think we’re having a big argument here. :grinning: we’re actually agreeing on most things. I also think most of the difference of opinion is how we choose to type a written answer in a forum. What do we emphasize? Do we supplement previous info or will this response stand on its ow…

So you are telling us - your simple answer - is wrong? He has his father’s legs …

Heh. Maybe. It certainly isn’t a complete answer. I think someone reading the whole of this thread will have a decent understanding of the complexity of the issue and come away with a few possibilities of evolving really long legs. They will probably understand the limits of our knowledge too.

I figured it wasn’t an argument but was attempting to avoid it from escalating into one. In any case, fair point about “biologist shorthand may confuse nonbiologists”.

Why do crane flies have such long legs?

Nature Talk

coniontises July 4, 2021, 8:15pm 13

Arguably it’s simpler and more concise to say “the evolutionary benefits are too understudied to be known for sure, although it is likely that A, B, or C may be possible functions/reasons”.

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Why do crane flies have such long legs?

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